The Democrats’ Playbook On Moral Panic

Really, the Democrats really do have a book on how to ram through their agenda by inciting moral panic. This one in particular is about gun control, but think of any issue, whether it’s abortion, climate change or health insurance, they incite moral panic among the masses in hopes their dangerous polices will be supported. Just a few minutes ago President Obama accused Republicans of wanting to take away health care from Americans for opposing the dreaded Obamacare. They do this on everything.

The document, as Bedard writes, instructs politicians and advocates “to hype high-profile gun incidents like the Florida slaying of Trayvon Martin to win support for new gun control laws.” Essentially it’s a how-to book on inciting a moral panic.

“The most powerful time to communicate is when concern and emotions are running at their peak,” it advises. Antigun advocates are urged to seize opportunistically on horrific crimes: “The debate over gun violence in America is periodically punctuated by high-profile gun violence incidents including Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, the Trayvon Martin killing, Aurora, and Oak Creek. When an incident such as these attracts sustained media attention, it creates a unique climate for our communications efforts.”

The booklet explicitly urges foes of the Second Amendment to abjure rationality in favor of the argumentum ad passiones, or appeal to emotion. “When talking to broader audiences, we want to meet them where they are,” the authors advise. “That means emphasizing emotion over policy prescriptions, keeping our facts and our case simple and direct, and avoiding arguments that leave people thinking they don’t know enough about the topic to weigh in.”

Read the whole thing and keep this in mind the next time you hear some progressive making yet another emotional plea to gin up support for whatever it is they’re trying to ram through at the time. Trust me, you won’t have to wait long.

you beat me to it !
This is what those Psych Majors were up to.
Not that it will work. And dems are not the only ones
who can appeal to emotion.

another thing – why does Obama use the word
“Transparency” when referring to the NSA or CIA ???
Who ever heard of such a thing.
But I notice they like to use that word – and “accountability” too – though they use it in weird ways.

“It is always useful to use the word “loaded” when describing concealed weapons carrying. In fact, when the word “loaded” was added to a 2011 poll by the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, opposition to concealed carry jumped by 9 percentage points. ”

hmmm – i wonder if they tried “unloaded” !!! How would that affect the polling ? I bet most americans have no idea that these people get into all this stuff.